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By Harim Peiris

The above was the anguished and rather alarming cry that emanated a few weeks ago from Cabinet Minister and Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader Rauff Hakeem. That a minister, of justice at that and the leader of the preeminent Muslim political party had to make a plea for an end to ethno religious hate mongering in Sri Lanka was sobering enough. Coming as it does on the heels of a sustained and systematic low intensity civil assault on the Muslim community, that has included attacks on mosques and Muslim owned businesses is alarming. Sri Lanka is just emerging from nearly three decades of an ethnic based civil war and the signs are ominous that we seemed to have learned nothing from our past and are hell bent on starting a new conflict, this one an ethno religious conflict, with religion thrown into the toxic mix.

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“Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing; nor upon tradition; nor upon rumour; nor upon what is in a scripture; nor upon surmise; nor upon an axiom; nor upon specious reasoning; nor upon a bias towards a notion that has been pondered over; nor upon another’s seeming ability; nor upon the consideration, ‘The monk is our teacher.’ Kalamas, when you yourselves know: ‘These things are bad; these things are blameable; these things are censured by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to harm and ill,’ abandon them.”- Kalama Sutta: The Buddha’s Charter of Free Inquiry

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A large presence of 33 Sri Lankan companies participated at the Gulf Food 2013 in Dubai displaying food and beverage products such as tea, spices, processed food, soft drink, biscuits, virgin coconut oil, dried fruits, herbal products etc. The Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) and the Sri Lanka Tea Board (SLTB) in collaboration with the Consulate General of Sri Lanka in Dubai organized two country pavilions for tea and other food items.  Gulf Food is the fast growing international trade fair for food and beverage sector and it has been rated as third largest food exhibition in the world and the biggest in the MENA region.

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The Government today stated that it could not take over the responsibility of the issuance of the Halal Certification, Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said today.

The All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU) on February 26 requested the government to take over the issuing and administration of Halal certification in Sri Lanka.

The All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama, the Muslim scholar council asked the government to take an initiative to end the row after Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), or Buddhist Force, staged a rally and issued an ultimatum that all halal certified goods must be taken off the market shelves by end of March.

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හලාල් සහතිකය නොමැතිකමෙන් කෝටි එකහමාරක පාඩුවක් අපට සිදුවෙලා තිබෙනවා - වෙන්ඩෝල් ආයතනයේ සභාපති ලේල්වල ජී ගොඩකන්ද

හලාල් ලාංඡනය අද වන විට විශාල ප්‍රශ්නයක් බවට පත් කරගෙන. අපේ නිෂ්පාදනවල සත්ව තෙල් අඩංගු නොවන බව නිෂ්පාදන කටයුතු ඇරඹුණු අවධියේ සිටම සිංහල, දෙමළ, ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂාවලින් දක්වා තිබුණා. හලාල් හරහා එය වඩාත් තහවුරු කිරීමක් සිද්ධ වෙනවා. හලාල් ලාංඡනය සඳහා ව්‍යාපාරිකයෙක් වසරකට රුපියල් එක් ලක්ෂ හැත්තෑපන් දහසක් ගෙවනවා යැයි කීම සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම අසත්‍යයකි.අපි වර්ෂයටම ඒ සඳහා ගෙවන්නේ රුපියල් නවදාහක මුදලක්. අපි ළඟ ඒ සඳහා ගෙවීම් කළ රිසිට් පත් තිබෙනවා. අද දේශීය ව්‍යාපාරිකයෝ වශයෙන් පිටරටවලටද අපේ නිෂ්පාදන යොමු කරනවා. ජාත්‍යන්තරව විශේෂයෙන් මැදපෙරදිග ඇතුළු මුස්ලිම් රටවලින් අපේ නිෂ්පාදනවලට හොඳ ඉල්ලුමක් ලැබෙන්නේ හලාල් ලාංඡනය නිසයි. ඒ නිසා ව්‍යාපාරිකයන්ට හලාල් තිබිමෙන් වාසියක් මිස අවාසියක් සිදු වන්නේ නැහැ. හලාල් කියන්නේ සුදුසුයි කියන අර්ථයයි. හලාල් ලාංඡනයෙන් අපේ නිෂ්පාදන සුදුසුයි කියනවා. හරාම් කියන්නේ නුසුදුසුයි කියන අර්ථයයි. හලාල් නෑ කියන්නේ හරාම්. අපේ

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World views...

Each one of us has a world view, the way he looks at the world and understands his place in it. Amongst these competing world views is the religious , agnostic,humanism, aethism views of people.  Obviously, all the available world views cant be true and in order to discern whats  right,  one would need to  ask whether a world view  portrays the truth and is at least reasonable. Secondly, is such a view capable of explaining reality as a whole as we cannot be satisfied if a world view gives answers to only a part of reality. Next matter of concern is if a chosen world view caters to human needs and potential; provide proper values to live by and valid goals to strive for.

Purpose of a Divine Revelation.

Human reasoning alone will not guide a Man in the knowledge of where he came from , what is his purpose  on earth and where he is going to; you need Revelation to tell you that and Islam is the final complete religion based on revelation by the creator of Man, for Man.

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Unity, a must to protect country’s good image

Dharma Sri ABEYRATNE

President Mahinda Rajapaksa said communal harmony and unity are a must for the overall development of the country and moreover protecting the country’s good image. The President said we can stand only if we are united _ divided we fall.

He added that education is the major resource while knowledge is the main weapon. “The future of the country is with the younger generation especially with the students,” he said. The President was addressing a gathering at the Muslim Ladies College, Colombo, yesterday after declaring open the newly constructed four storied school building.

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By Anthony David

As controversy grows over the issue of Halal certification by the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU), a Cabinet Sub Committee is trying to work out a solution to the crisis. Against this backdrop, the Sunday Times spoke to ACJU President As-Sheikh M.I.M. Rizwe (Mufthi), and Halal expert Tariq Mahmud to get their views on various allegations regarding the Halal issue.

Excerpts from the interview:

What are the goals and the vision of the ACJU? When was it formed?

The ACJU was started in 1924. It is a body set up for Sri Lanka and not based on any foreign model.. Our objective is to promote cultural, social and economic welfare of the Muslims in accordance with Islam.

We provide social service, educational service and give Shariah advice to Muslims when they contact us. For instance, they contact us to know about Islam’s stance on marriage and divorce. The ACJU has a Halal division which is involved in issuing Halal certification.

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By Charundi Panagoda

Halal, a word that has stirred much controversy and tension in the country, is simply Arabic for “permitted,” as opposed to Haram, Arabic for “prohibited.” Under Sharia Islamic law, Halal and Haram designate objects and actions permissible or sinful for Muslims.

More commonly, Halal is a term referred to food items Muslims are allowed to consume under Islamic dietary guidelines. The Quran explicitly forbids Muslims from consuming pork, blood, carrion, alcohol, meat over which God’s name has not been pronounced, animals slaughtered in the name of any other than God and animals that have been strangled or beaten to death, killed by a fall, gored to death or killed by another animal and not finished off by a human.

In order to ensure that food they consume does not contain any Haram products, Muslim communities worldwide rely on the Halal certification, including predominantly non-Muslim countries such as the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and Thailand.

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by Sheikh S.H.M.Faleel

பேராசிரியர் ஜயன்த செனவிரத்னவின் தலைமையில் இயங்கும் மதங்களுக்கிடையிலான உரையாடலுக்கான நிலையத்தின் (IFDC) ஏற்பாட்டில் அனைத்து மதங்களையும் சேர்ந்த மதத் தலைவர், சமூக ஆர்வலர்களுக்கான மூன்று நாள் (18–20/01/2013) கருத்தரங்கில் கலந்து கொள்ளும் சந்தர்ப்பம் கிட்டியது.

அதில் பௌத்த மதத்தின் கருத்தைப் பிரதிநிதிப்படுத்திப் பேசிய கொழும்பு பாலி பௌத்த பல்கலைக்கழக விரிவுரையாளர் அளுத்கம விமலரத்ன தேரர் கூறிய கருத்துக்கள் இங்கு குறிப்பிடத்தக்கவை. பௌத்த மதம் மெத்தா (அன்பு), கருணா (கருணை) முதிதா (பிறரது முன்னேற்றம் கண்டு சந்தோஷம்) உபேக்ஸா (தீவிரவாதமற்ற நடுநிலை) ஆகிய நான்கு கோட்பாடுகளை அடிப்படையாகக் கொண்டிருக்கிறது என்று அவர் தெரிவித்து உண்மையான பௌத்தத்தின் தன்மையை வெளிப்படுத்தினார். இவை பௌத்தர்களுக்கு மத்தியிலான உறவில் மட்டுமல்ல பிறருடனான தொடர்பிலும் கடைப்பிடிக்கப்பட வேண்டும் என்று தான் பெரிதும் வலியுறுத்துவதாகக் கூறினார்.